AYUSH
Scheme on conservation, development and sustainable management of medicinal plants
Till date, NMPB, Ministry of Ayush has supported 1498 no. of projects throughout the country under Central Sector Scheme for Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants since its inception. Under the same scheme, NMPB, Ministry of Ayush has supported 103026.32-hectare area under In-situ / Ex-situ Conservation and Resource augmentation, 24,000 herbal gardens, 1175 JFMCs, 233 seminars / workshops / conferences / buyer-seller meets / trainings and 57 no. of nurseries. Beside this, NMPB has developed “e-CHARAK” application to provide a platform for trade of Medicinal Plants & to provide easy market access and developed a NMPB helpline in collaboration with CDAC Hyderabad.
Ministry of Ayush had supported 56,305 hectare area, 220 nurseries, 354 post-harvest management units, 25 Processing Units, 42 Rural / District Collection Centres / Retail outlet, 10 Seed germplasm centres, 15 Demonstration plots etc. under medicinal plants component of National Ayush Mission  from the financial year 2015-16 to 2020-21.
National Medicinal Plants Board, Ministry of Ayush is implementing a scheme entitled “Central Sector Scheme for Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants.” Under the scheme project based support is provided for following activities on medicinal plants:
- Survey Inventorisation, In-situ Conservation through Medicinal Plants Conservation and Development Areas  and Resource augmentation
- Ex-situ Conservation / Establishment of Herbal Garden , School Herbal Garden  and Home Herbal Garden 
- Support to Joint Forest Management Committees / Panchayats / Van Panchayats / Biodiversity Management Committees / Self Help Groups for value addition activities like drying, primary processing, storage etc. of Medicinal Plants and thereby generate livelihood to these communities
- Research & Development
- Information, Education and Communication  etc.
- Promotional activities such as establishment of nurseries.
Ministry of Ayush, Government of India had implemented Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National Ayush Mission  to promote the cultivation of medicinal plants from the financial year 2015-16 to 2020-21. Under its ‘Medicinal Plants’ component, market driven cultivation of 140 prioritized medicinal plants in identified clusters/zones was supported and implemented in a mission mode through selected State Implementing agencies throughout the country. As per the scheme guidelines, the support was provided for:
- Cultivation of prioritized medicinal plants on farmer’s land.
- Establishment of nurseries with backward linkages for raising and supply of quality planting material.
- Post-harvest management with forwarding linkages.
- Primary processing, marketing infrastructure etc.
Under the “Central Sector Scheme on Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants”, there is a provision to support the Information, Education and Communication  activities  and establishment of nurseries & regional cum facilitation centres to promote the cultivation of medicinal plants among farmers.
The National Medicinal Plants Board  has supported 233 projects under Information Education and Communication  activities to aware the local masses about the medicinal plants, 19 projects under marketing of medicinal plants, 57 projects for establishment of nurseries to raise the Quality Planting Material since its inception.
In addition, the National Medicinal Plants Board, Ministry of Ayush through its Regional Cum Facilitation Centres  is also providing financial and technical assistance to farmers/other stakeholders for development of Quality Planting Material of medicinal plants and herbs in different states. As per scheme guidelines provision, NMPB has set up 7 Regional Cum Facilitation Centres  in project mode to promote various medicinal plants activities in different regions / areas of the country.
Besides this, Ministry of Ayush, Government of India had promoted cultivation of Medicinal Plants throughout the country under Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the National Ayush Mission  from the financial year 2015-16 to 2020-21. Ministry of Ayush had also supported 235 workshops / buyer-seller meets / exposure visits under IEC activities and training for 19061 farmers in the country from the financial year 2015-16 to 2020-21 under the medicinal plants component of National Ayush Mission scheme.
This information was given by Minister of Ayush Shri Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply in loksabha today.